Budget Carrier to Launch World’s Shortest International Route — Only 10 Minutes of Flight Time!
Jeff Edwards January 09, 2015
FlyNiki has announced a new international route between Vienna and Bratislava that will take only 10 minutes to complete.
When FlyNiki’s new route between Vienna International Airport (VIE) and Bratislava Airport (BTS) launches in April, the flight will cover a mere 30 miles and last only ten minutes. According to the low-cost Austrian carrier and Air Berlin subsidiary based in Vienna, their new segment will be the shortest scheduled international commercial flight on the globe.
The Daily Mail reports the flight will save passengers an hour-long drive or an even shorter train trip between the two European capitals. Passengers booking tickets on the flight are likely to spend considerably more time waiting in the security line than in the air.
The Vienna—Bratislava route is scheduled to launch on April 1, but the announcement of the 10-minute flight is not an early April Fool’s prank. The Daily Mail quotes sources at FlyNiki who admit that the super-short flight likely makes sense only for passengers with much longer connecting flights at VIE.
While the FlyNiki trip between VIE and BTS will become the shortest route to cross international borders, according to BBC News, the shortest scheduled commercial flight in the world is the Loganair route between Westray and Papa Westray on the Scottish Isles of Orkney. The record flight time for that 1.7-mile island-to-island trip is a quick 53 seconds.
[Photo: FlyNiki]
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The reason is alluded to in the article. It's for people who will be connecting for somewhere else at Vienna, and would like to take a cab, leave a car, be dropped off at BTS instead of making the trip to VIE.
The bus ride takes one hour but you need to leave a buffer at least one hour in case anything happens on the road so you don't miss your flight. The second reason is that Niki needs the plane in the day and after the plane flies it's BTS-BRU-BTS segments it has to reposition to VIE anyway. It is always more feasible to take pax instead of repositioning. Also the psychological factor for the pax is important. "i can fly with Niki/Air Berlin from BTS, no need to worry about transport to VIE.
Can't imagine the point of this. A bus ride from Vienna to Bratislava takes only 1 hour. The bus ride would be a shorter trip overall when you factor in the nonsense waiting around and security at the airport.
Actually, Camair-Co (Cameroon Airlines Corporation) operates a cross-border flight half that distance - Kinshasa to Brazzaville.